Pearls in the necklace of your life

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin--real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to get through first, some unfinished business, time to be served, a debt to be paid, then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. -Alfred D'Sousa

How you handle life's obstacles are the pearls in the necklace of your life.

Harold's Corn Pancakes

Ingredients:

• Small package of corn muffin mix 8.5 ounces (like Jiffy)
• 1 small can corn, drained - 8.5 ounces (frozen or fresh from the cob corn cooked--about 1/2 cup)
• 1 cup of buttermilk (fresh or make from dried buttermilk mix using fluid from canned corn.)  
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 Tablespoon Unrefined (virgin) coconut oil for cooking.
• Agave syrup

Directions:
Mix egg and butter milk.  Add dry mix and whisk to remove all lumps.  Add corn,

Fry pancake batter in about 1 Tablespoon coconut oil in a non-stick skillet.

Serve with agave syrup.

Makes 3-4 pancakes.

Tabasco Smoked Oyster Appetizer Recipe

I'm not sure where I got this recipe, but I think it was my brother that turned me on to it. It is an easy and great tasting appetizer.

Ingredients:

• Good quality canned smoked oysters (Crown Prince is a good brand)
• Saltine crackers
• Tabasco hot sauce

Instructions:

Use toothpicks to place a smoked oyster on a Saltine cracker and then add a dash of Tabasco. 

Tabasco Popcorn Recipe

I got this from my barber. He learned to love Tabasco sauce when he was in the service and got this recipe from a bar in Arkansas that asked him if he wanted "Arkansas-style" when he asked for a bowl of popcorn. His family always asks him to make it whenever they come over for game night.

Ingredients:

• Good quality un-popped corn kernels (Orville Redenbacher kernels)
• Good popcorn popping oil (Orville Redenbacher's Popping & Topping Oil)
• 6 healthy dashes of Tabasco hot sauce (about a 1 teaspoon, I should think)
• Salt to taste

Instructions:

Pour oil and Tabasco hot sauce into a pan until the bottom of the pan is completely covered in oil. Add popcorn until the oil is completely covered and turn heat to high. When corn begins to pop, shake the pot constantly (or use a Stovetop Popcorn Popper). When popping slows, remove from heat and pour into a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt to taste.

Things I didn't Know About Apple AirPlay

I've had an Apple TV for several years now. I often use AirPlay to beam stuff from my Apple gadgets to my Apple TV. With one finger tap I can push movies and music stored on my Mac, iPhone, or iPad to my big screen.

I see now that AirPlay is a lot more open now than it used to be. App developers and online video sites now have the option to incorporate AirPlay. It's come a long way from AirPlay for iTunes-sanctioned content only.

Here are a few Free Airplay enabled apps:

• PBS for iPad 
• TED 
• Skype for iPad 

Streaming HD video from an iPad to an HDTV is done in the background. That's right you can switch over to the Facebook app while the video continues playing. That’s because AirPlay works in the background, continuing to stream media remotely while you do other things. You can even put the iOS device to sleep; so long as it’s got power and a network connection, it’ll keep streaming.

Of course you can control AirPlay playback from the iOS device, but once the streaming starts, you can also just pick up the Apple TV’s remote and control things that way. Once an AirPlay stream is going, it’s not any different from watching a movie on the Apple TV directly. All the basic Apple TV remote commands work, so you can play, pause, fast-forward, and even bring up a chapter list, also skip forward.

The Apple TV buffers as much of the streamed file as it can, this should give you smooth fast-forwarding.

 If the app doesn't support airplay directly there is always AirPlay Mirroring - a fantastic feature of iOS on the iPad. It lets you mirror your iPad screen, and everything that you do on it, to an Apple TV or a Mac computer.

My Visual.ly Resume

Check my visual resume out!

Durian - a love affair

Word Cloud of Medtronic Mission Statement

"Here’s an experiment for you. Pull together your company’s latest annual report, its mission statement, and your CEOs last few blog posts. Read through these documents and note the key phrases. Make a list of oft-repeated words. Now do a little content analysis. What are the goals and ideas that get a lot of airtime in your company? It’s probably notions like superiority, advantage, leadership, differentiation, value, focus, discipline, accountability, and efficiency. Nothing wrong with this, but do these goals quicken your pulse? Do they speak to your heart? Are they “good” in any cosmic sense?" 
-The Hole in the Soul of Business By Gary Hamel